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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24008896">Please Let Me In</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/beastkeeper/pseuds/dntovrthnkit'>dntovrthnkit (beastkeeper)</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Carmilla (Web Series)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Angst with a Happy Ending, Broody Carmilla, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Eventual Fluff, F/F, Hollstein is always end game, Hurt/Comfort, I know it's Elle right now but obviously everyone knows Hollstein is endgame, I'm pretty sure I'm going for Human!Carmilla here but honestly even I don't know yet, Slow Burn, Tumblr Prompt</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 23:00:58</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,553</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24008896</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/beastkeeper/pseuds/dntovrthnkit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>I cannot for the life of me find the post that I got this from (if anyone happens upon it let me know and I will give credit), but here's the prompt:</p>
<p>"Your apartment is next to/above mine and I can hear you and your partner dancing and singing and the bed moving and you two laughing and talking in hushed tones and it won't let me sleep so I bitch about it to you 24/7 and one day it stops and one day turns to one week and then months and I haven't seen you smile in forever please let me in, I've been knocking for ten minutes"</p>
<p>Or, Laura recently moved in with her friends LaF and Perry, who live in the apartment below the landlord's daughter, Carmilla. She has proven herself to everyone in the building to be loud, rude, and extremely intimidating. However, odd circumstances lead Laura to see a different side of the girl upstairs.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Laura Hollis/Carmilla Karnstein</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>30</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Please Let Me In</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hey hi hello!</p>
<p>One night a million years ago I stayed up until 6 am reading Hollstein fics, wrote down this prompt somewhere, slept for a few hours, woke up, and wrote this first chapter. I thought I had posted it but I guess I never did! And well, there's no time like the present. I'm not sure how long this thing will turn out, but I do know that it's about time for my semi-annual rewatch of Carmilla, so I'll be taking notes and getting excited about where it could go. I obviously at least plan to make it to the end of the prompt, but we just never know what might happen after that, do we? ;)</p>
<p>Trigger warning in case you didn't read the tags, there will be references to Carmilla's mom abusing her emotionally/psychologically (on a similar vein to the way she did in the web series).</p>
<p>Find me on Tumblr @dntovrthnkit if you feel like it.<br/>Please leave questions, comments, concerns, feedback, requests, emotional outbursts, etc. down below!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>         Laura turned over in her bed again. Squeezing her yellow pillow against her ears, she squinted at the clock across the room-- 2:13am. She let out an exaggerated groan. The bass of a punk rock song thudded through the walls and in her chest, and above her, she could hear mattress springs squeaking steadily. With all the sleepy might she could manage, she hurled her pillow towards the ceiling and rolled out of bed cursing. Her bedroom door slammed against the wall as she stomped into the living room, where LaFontaine sat watching a movie in the dark with Bluetooth headphones and a box of Cheez Its. The blue light of the TV screen illuminated their face, and Laura saw their eyebrows shoot up their forehead when she entered. By the time they had removed the headphones, Laura was already mid-sentence.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>         “—because for the third time this week those two are going at it like angry screamo rabbits at two o’clock in the godforsaken morning, and for the love of Dumbledore, if someone doesn’t stop them, I swear I’ll—”</span>
</p>
<p> <span>“Chill, Hollis, you’ll wake up Perry if you—”</span></p>
<p> <span>“I find it hard to believe that Perry, or anyone, earplugs, sound machine, or otherwise, could find a single blissful moment of rest under this paper-thin ceiling! I don’t care if she </span><em><span>is</span></em><span> the landlord’s daughter! We pay to live here and part of living is sleeping and if I’m not getting what I paid for, then SHE’S going to have to reimburse me!”</span></p>
<p> <span>LaF did what they could to stifle a giggle. As angry as she was, it was hard to take Laura seriously as she stood before them with one sock, pink polka-dotted shorts, an inside-out shirt, and hair in helpless knots.</span></p>
<p> <span>“LaF, I’m serious! I’m going up there!”</span></p>
<p>
  <span>They dropped their headphones.</span>
</p>
<p> <span>“Wh-what? Upstairs? Laura, you’re brand new here—you’ve never even met her. Her eyes basically turned our last roommate to stone, and all she did was step into the same elevator. I don’t think you understand the kind of scary I mean when I say the Karnsteins would eat you alive if they could— and I’m not entirely sure they can’t! You can’t just—”</span></p>
<p> <span>“Oh yes I can! She’s woken me up for the last time, LaF. I’m more afraid of my boss tomorrow morning when I’m late, for the third time this week, than I am of some entitled, nocturnal, selfish, emo—”</span></p>
<p> <span>“Shouldn’t you at least—” They were both cut off by the slam of the front door as Laura stormed out. “—put on some real pants first?”</span></p><hr/>
<p> <span>Laura pounded down the hall and up the stairs with her hands balled into fists at her sides.</span></p>
<p> <span>“The nerve of some people,” she muttered</span><em><span>. And on a Thursday night? Shouldn’t she be working in the morning or something?</span></em><span> When she arrived at the apartment, marked 307, she hammered her fist against the door. As she waited, she tried to concoct the perfect way to deliver the news to her upstairs neighbor that she was just about the rudest living creature to ever walk the earth. When there was no response, she raised her hand again, but before she could knock, the door flew open.</span></p>
<p> <span>There stood the mythical monster she had been warned about by her roommates since she moved in about a month ago. Carmilla Karnstein, a pale, dark-haired woman of about her own age. LaFontaine had been right about her eyes; their shadowy sharpness seemed to pierce her very soul. Shocked and suddenly disarmed, she lowered her gaze to the floor.</span></p>
<p> <span>“What could possibly be so important?” Her voice was rich and low, with a rasp, like maybe she’d strained it. Laura tried to regain eye contact, but she couldn’t help but notice the other woman’s long, bare legs and lacy black underwear. She, too, wore her shirt inside-out, as if it had just been thrown on to answer the door. It was an old gray t-shirt, cut at the shoulders and neck, and it revealed a single bead of sweat rolling down her flushed chest. Laura swallowed hard.</span></p>
<p> <span>“I—I, um…”</span></p>
<p> <span>“Spit it out,” Carmilla snapped.</span></p>
<p> <span>“I was just wondering—”</span></p>
<p> <span>“Millie?” A voice called from within the apartment, barely audible above the raging music. A woman, Laura noted. Carmilla’s expression softened at the sound. “Who is it?” Carmilla turned back to Laura, cocked an eyebrow, and looked her up and down, slowly. Then, she looked her dead in the eyes.</span></p>
<p> <span>“It’s no one.”</span></p>
<p> <span>Laura stood for a few moments, heart thrumming in her ears, staring blankly at the door that had just been shut in her face. The door that just moments ago had been opened by a sweaty, half-naked, dangerous looking young woman. Then she turned and staggered back to her own apartment.</span></p><hr/>
<p> <span>“Hollis?” LaFontaine craned their neck over the back of the couch to see Laura reenter the apartment, mouth slightly agape, eyes nearly staring right through them. “Oh my God, she’s done it to you too. She really </span><em><span>is</span></em><span> Medusa! What happened? Did you talk to her? Did she talk to you? Did she suck out your soul through your nostrils?” They rushed over and held Laura by the shoulders, scanning her face for any sign of life. “Hello? Are you in there?”</span></p>
<p> <span>“Pants,” Laura mumbled.</span></p>
<p> <span>“I’m sorry?”</span></p>
<p> <span>“Pants,” she said again, this time looking LaF in the eyes.</span></p>
<p> <span>“Yeah, I tried to tell you to change, but—”</span></p>
<p> <span>“No, LaF.” She grabbed their arms. “She wasn’t wearing any pants.”</span></p>
<p> <span>LaFontaine hesitated, trying to confirm what they had just heard, and then a smile crept to their lips.</span></p>
<p> <span>“C—Carmilla? Carmilla Karnstein? Pantsless? As in, no pants whatsoever?” Laura nodded weakly, and they couldn’t hold it in any longer. LaF burst into a fit of laughter that folded them over. Before long, Perry emerged from the second bedroom, pulling out earplugs.</span></p>
<p> <span>“What in good gosh’s name are you two doing up so late? And what on Earth is so funny that you felt it reasonable to wake me at—what is it—” She checked her watch. “Two-thirty in the morning? LaFontaine?” LaF tried to respond, but they struggled to even breathe between laughs. Their face was nearly as red as their hair. Perry turned to Laura, whose mouth still hung open.</span></p>
<p> <span>“Laura, are you okay? What’s going on?”</span></p>
<p> <span>“Carmilla,” she managed. “Carmilla Karnstein in her underwear.”</span></p><hr/>
<p>
  <span>         Carmilla disconnected her phone from a tall speaker and flopped onto her bed, sighing. Elle turned over to face her and began twisting a single dark curl around her finger.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>         “Is everything okay, Millie?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>         “Mhm,” Carmilla hummed, staring into the ceiling. Her ears rung in the new silence.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>         “You sounded angry. Who was at the door?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>         “I don’t know. Some girl in her pajamas,” Carmilla said. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Some girl who smelled like warm cinnamon sugar,</span>
  </em>
  <span> she thought. She shook her head, willing the memory away, and turned to face her girlfriend. “Probably come to complain about the noise.” She grinned at Elle, who blushed and bit her lip.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>         “Was she rude about it?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>         “No. It was weird, she couldn’t get any words out.” </span>
  <em>
    <span>I scared her</span>
  </em>
  <span>, she thought.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>         “She had the guts to come up to </span>
  <em>
    <span>your</span>
  </em>
  <span> room? The landlord’s daughter’s room?” Elle teased. “And she didn’t even say anything?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>         Carmilla rolled her eyes. “Probably too scared.” </span>
  <em>
    <span>Like everyone else.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>         “As she should be. Well, if she </span>
  <em>
    <span>didn’t</span>
  </em>
  <span> ask us to quiet down, I suppose we don’t need to bother complying...” Elle leaned over and kissed Carmilla, long and slow, and began trailing down her neck.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>         “I’m sorry,” Carmilla said quietly. “I don’t think I’m in the mood anymore.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>         “Oh.” Elle pulled away and studied her girlfriend’s face. “Okay. Are you sure you’re alright?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>         “Yeah, I’m fine,” Carmilla answered. She rolled over to face the wall and pulled the covers up to her chin. Elle scooched in close behind her and wrapped an arm around her middle.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>         “I love you, Millie.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>         “And I, you, Elle.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>         As she lay in the dark, feeling Elle’s chest rise and fall in rhythm against her back, Carmilla played the moment in the doorway over again in her mind. The girl in the hall, missing a sock. Her tousled, honey-brown hair. The way her nose had been all scrunched up, determined, fist raised and ready to keep pounding at the door. Her huge brown doe eyes. How her face fell when Carmilla snapped at her.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>         “Sooner or later you’ll snap like a tree branch, just like you always do. You'll get angry. You'll lose control. Admit it, Carmilla-- you're a monster. You’ll hurt her, drive her away with that temper. And she’ll see you for who you really are. She won’t stick around for you, then. And why should she?"</span>
  </em>
  <span> Her mother’s voice echoed in her head like a clap of thunder.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>         It doesn’t matter</span>
  </em>
  <span>, she thought to herself. </span>
  <em>
    <span>She’s just some girl from the building. So what if I scared her? Elle’s not scared. Elle knows me, she doesn’t need to be scared. Mother is wrong-- I would never hurt her.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>         She ruminated on the statement as she drifted off to sleep: </span>
  <em>
    <span>I would never hurt Elle. I would never hurt Elle.</span>
  </em>
  <span> Somewhere, though, on the road between conscious and unconscious, the pattern changed.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>         Elle would never hurt me. Elle would never hurt me.</span>
  </em>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hi it's me again, please don't hate me for the slow burn, I promise it will be worth it!! &lt;3</p></blockquote></div></div>
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